Julie Johnson, 68, of Grand Rapids, Mich., has been helping a nonprofit to organize and fill new residential space for the homeless. (Photo by Emily Zoladz)
Posted on 06/24/2008 1:47:23 PM PDT by Incorrigible
Julie Johnson, 68, of Grand Rapids, Mich., has been helping a nonprofit to organize and fill new residential space for the homeless. (Photo by Emily Zoladz) |
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[Grand Rapids, MI] -- At age 68, Julie Johnson is something of a fixer for the Heartside neighborhood nonprofit housing agency in Grand Rapids, Mich. Give her a tough job, and she will find a way.
"I like to get things done,'' said Johnson, a former community college administrator.
As the American work force continues to gray, millions of workers are rewriting the rules of retirement. And in the bargain, many employers are finding that experience trumps youth.
Findings from AARP say the number of workers age 50 and older will only increase — no surprise, as most of 76 million baby boomers enter their 50s and 60s.
It is estimated that in 2012, nearly 20 percent of the work force will be age 55 and older, up from 13 percent in 2000. It also found that 68 percent of workers older than 50 who have not yet retired plan to work into their retirement years or not retire at all.
"It's a different world we are living in,'' said Jacqueline Morrison, associate director for economic security and work for AARP Michigan.
"Retirement as a gold watch is actually being redefined by the boomer generation. The scenario of just retiring at 62 and playing golf is not as attractive as it used to be.''
To be sure, work is not all milk and honey for older employees. Many return to or remain at work because they have no choice. Others struggle to find their way in a fast-changing marketplace.
"They are going back for monetary reasons,'' said Jackie O'Connor, assistant director of the Area Agency on Aging of Western Michigan.
"They are people who, when they first retire, there are no major expenses. Then the car starts to break down, the house needs a new roof.
"Suddenly your nest egg is being used for more essential things. The pension isn't going to cover that. The savings aren't going to cover that.''
Judy Dalson, a 67-year-old former missionary to Argentina, returned to the United States in 1999 to care for her mother after open heart surgery.
With a Social Security income of just $638 a month, Dalson has no choice but to keep working.
"If I had enough money to retire on, I probably would retire,'' Dalson said.
For the past eight years, Dalson has worked for the Diocese of Grand Rapids, where she is employed as an administrative assistant in its Hispanic ministry office. Dalson considers herself fortunate that her health is good enough so she can.
"I enjoy my work,'' she said. "I will probably keep working as long as I am able to.''
Grand Rapids resident Liz VandenBrink, 70, retired five years ago from her job at a floral distribution center.
Divorced, with a house payment and just a small amount of savings, she discovered soon enough her finances were pinched.
"It just wasn't enough for me to make it on my own,'' VandenBrink said.
She found a job as receptionist for the Area Agency on Aging, bringing her not only much-needed cash but a new purpose in life.
"I really hope it is going to be a long time. I love it here,'' VandenBrink said. "The friends you make on the job, the people you see when you come in every day — it's just part of your life.''
Former West Virginia resident Sunny Pasquariello, 68, spends her days trying to help low-income workers older than 55 find jobs. She knows firsthand that isn't always easy.
Pasquariello quit a social service job in West Virginia at age 59 to take care of her ailing mother, then struggled to find anything worthwhile after her mother died a couple of years later. She moved to Florida at the urging of a friend, found work with an AARP jobs program — and now runs the program for the Grand Rapids area.
She is a tireless advocate for what older workers can offer an employer.
"They have that old-school work ethic. They are not going to be out partying. Our people are content getting a job and will show up on time.''
AARP's Morrison said companies, mindful of what they are missing, are finding creative ways to attract these workers.
The Borders bookstore chain offers older workers a "snowbird'' package that employs them in Michigan in summer and Florida in winter. Some firms offer subsidized emergency backup elder care for the aging parents of older workers.
"You have to be flexible as an employer,'' Morrison said.
And in some cases, smart employers dip into the retirement pool for what they need.
In 2003, Spartan Stores Inc. looked to the Florida Keys to bag a retired grocery executive named Craig Sturken, 59, in the hope he could revitalize the ailing firm.
The former A&P regional CEO inherited a legacy of woe that included losses in three straight quarters, closed distribution centers and layoffs. But By 2008, the company was reporting a fiscal-year profit increase of 36 percent over the previous year, with sales up 12 percent to $2.5 billion.
(Ted Roelofs is a staff writer for The Grand Rapids (Mich.) Press. He can be contacted at troelofs(at)grpress.com.)
Not for commercial use. For educational and discussion purposes only.
I worked in an insurance office for 25 years and I hated every single nano second of it. I retired early and have not been bored one second in 15 years. I love housework, cooking, cleaning, running errands. My house is immaculate and it is totally organized from top to bottom inside and out. To me homemaking is productive, satisfying work. I sometimes think I am the only woman in America who loves housework and hates being in an office away from home.
I'm old. Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!
I disagree. Some will succumb, others will go on the black markets, and still others will leave if possible.
This article obviously does not sample from the public employee population. Most public employees have a birthright to early retirement no matter how much it costs the taxpayer, nor how much longer the private sector worker must be employed to pay the taxes to provide their regal retirement. Many public employees return to work part-time, essentially receiving full-time pay (with built-in inflation protection) for 1/4 time work.
Please do not argue that lavish retirement benefits compensate for lower public sector compensation. Most states have laws indicating that public sector employees should be paid prevailing compensation. However, the compensation surveys deliberately under report the huge advantage that public sector employees have in retirement compensation. These surveys sometimes claim that public sector employees receive less retirement compensation than private sector employees.
Despite all of the talk about working longer, public sector employees are not listening except to double dip. Any talk of raising the retirement age for public employees is met by howls from public employee groups and their rat allies.
Your reply/post was excellent and loaded with good information. I'm just feeling nutz today after thinking about all the notorious people dying of heart disease lately and the effect on their family's lives... When that old ticker times out, it's lights out on all those retirement dreams and schemes!!!
I disagree. Some will succumb, others will go on the black markets, and still others will leave if possible.
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Certainly those are alternatives. And the bottom line to socialism is the same. These people STOP PRODUCING WEALTH that goes to the socialists’ confiscatory taxation. The sad part is that the damage to the country the socialists will do, will take DECADES to repair after socialism goes broke. The criminal infrastructure that socialism encourages will continue to plague the country for an extended period of time.
Socialism is pure poison and only serves the short-term power madness of those that foster it.
This 62 year old didn't have but modest savings in a IRA with 6 month emergency fund to boot when I retired 3 years ago.
The key, for me at least, was being in the position that I was servicing absolutely no debt.
It really would blow most folks minds to find out how little one can really live on without debt.
Ping list for the discussion of the politics and social (and sometimes nostalgic) aspects that directly effects Generation Reagan / Generation-X (Those born from 1965-1981) including all the spending previous generations are doing that Gen-X and Y will end up paying for.
Freep mail me to be added or dropped. See my home page for details and previous articles.
I’m a gen Xer and I’d like to retire someday. My calculations show that I can do it around age 80.
I agree on all points!
It is like being told that since a parasite has been feeding off of you for some amount of time, you need to continue to let it feed off of you for an additional amount of time until it can find another host!
Missouri.
My daughter lived in St. Louis county, they taxed everything, your car, sales tax changed depending where you lived. I’m looking to simplify....maybe Utah. :0)
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